Orchestra directors develop their own musical passions and preferences. While conductor Sarah Hicks can equally handle traditional classics or Pops, she has a distinct fondness for the latter and especially movie soundtracks.

Earlier in July, Hicks led the San Francisco Symphony as guest conductor in music from "Star Wars."

“I love conducting film music, but I’m super comfortable with rock, pop, hip-hop, country, classical — anything you can lay at me,” said Hicks from her home in San Francisco. “I made a decision about a decade ago to focus on the Pops side because it’s more interesting for me to collaborate with musicians of different genres.”

Hicks’ San Francisco Symphony series featured the complete score to “A New Hope,” the original 1977 Star Wars feature, with the two-hour film simultaneously projected on a large screen.

“Disney and many other companies are producing these live concert versions of movies with live orchestral soundtracks," she said. “It’s pretty challenging, but they’re very popular.”

“I’m usually flying somewhere at least two weeks out of every month, sometimes it’s three or four weeks,” she said.

Fate brings Hicks to conducting

Born in Japan and raised in Hawaii, Hicks planned to become a concert pianist until fate intervened.

“I developed tendonitis when I was around 17,” she explained. “I overstretched the tendon between my fourth and fifth fingers and the surgeon suggested it could be shortened and tightened. I essentially had to either get surgery and hope for the best, or quit.”

She chose to quit and turned to conducting. Nevertheless, she was embarking on a profession traditionally dominated by men.

“At the conservatory where I studied conducting (Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia) I had an old German teacher. When he accepted me as a student, he told me women are weak and Asians are not expressive so I should expect to have a hard time. Well, I proved him wrong! While that kind of attitude is still floating around, most musicians today don’t really care what you are as long as you can do the job. But I still see some confusion from audiences who think I’m the singer when I walk out until they realize I’m the conductor!”

In January, she was invited to Copenhagen to lead the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in a program of music from Westerns and gangster movies. Featured composers included Nino Rota (“The Godfather”) and Bernard Herrmann (“Taxi Driver”), as well as Ennio Morricone, the 89-year-old prestigious Italian composer whose music has been used in over 500 movies including the popular "spaghetti Westerns" from the '60s.

“The Danish National Symphony may not be well-known in the U.S., but they’re one of the great orchestras of Europe,” noted Hicks. “They knew I worked with movies and put together a wonderful selection.”

The program featured several Morricone pieces including his haunting music from classic Westerns such as “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” “A Fistful of Dollars” and “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

“Panoramic,” answers Hicks, when asked to describe Morricone’s music in one word. “He’s a very thematic composer who creates a theme and uses it in many different guises throughout a film, which is a very classical way of using melody. He’s brilliant at creating a particular mood in a scene.”

But like many early soundtrack composers whose work was sometimes dismissed by classical musicians, Morricone’s talent wasn’t always appreciated.

“Today he’s a rock star in Europe and his concerts sell out,” said Hicks. “Musicians now respect non-classical music that’s well-written and they recognize film composers with great compositional technique. It’s part of the current trend for orchestras to play more non-classical music.”

The arrangers of the Copenhagen concerts also displayed the lighter side of symphonic productions by incorporating visual effects into the January production led by Hicks.

“We had cutouts of people with guns around the concert hall,” she recalled. “And at the very end of the show, the percussionist and timpani players had a pretend shootout duel.”

Other theatrical elements included musicians donning cowboy hats. And even mezzo-soprano Tuva Semmingsen embraced the Western theme by wearing a revolver earring as she sang the lilting “wah-wah-wah” refrain at the opening of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Suite."

Hicks says she has never met Morricone and would love to, but isn’t surprised the two haven’t crossed paths.

“He still does a lot of conducting, but conductors don’t usually meet each other – why would two be in the same place?” she asked, laughing. “There’s no use for more than one conductor at a time!”

Hicks plans to continue bringing movie music to the public.

“The music is incredibly popular with audiences and I’m always looking for collaborations with new orchestras and artists. I went on tour with Sting a while back, so another orchestral tour with a rock artist would be awesome.”

She’s also collaborated with Josh Groban and Smokey Robinson, and in another memorable past concert, Hicks joined a beloved television figure for “Out of This World,” a program of space-themed music with the Boston Pops in 2014.

“Leonard Nimoy narrated the evening and we performed music from sci-fi movies as well as a more traditional piece, Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets,’ ” she recalled.

Leonard Nimoy narrates and Sarah Hicks conducts "Out Of This World," a program of space-themed music, with the Boston Pops In 2014. Credit Winslow Townson(Photo: Winslow Townson/Boston Pops)

Hicks remembered Nimoy as being “incredibly sweet” and shared breakfast with him and his wife. “He talked about his kids and family life, so it’s always nice to meet famous people who are just like the rest of us.”

The Boston concert was one of Nimoy’s last public appearances and naturally included the now iconic music from “Star Trek” as well as “Star Wars.” With grand orchestral works' thrilling symphonic melodies that complement the visual cinematic drama and emotion, Hicks is not surprised they have become commonplace in sci-fi blockbuster soundtracks.

“Space movies are epic adventures, so the colors of a symphony orchestra are perfect to capture the excitement and passion of these stories. I also think you want to counterbalance the vastness of cold, empty space with something that’s uniquely human and warm — so what better than 90 musicians working as one to create such unforgettable music?”

And unlike the somewhat serious and intense demeanor often perceived of maestros, Hicks’ stage presence is generally relaxed — she clearly has fun at the conductor’s podium.

“Music was written to be enjoyed,” she says. “When I travel to other countries, my work visa is always stamped ‘entertainer!’ It’s my responsibility to have a good time myself so that the musicians and audiences can, too. I want to bring this amazing music to people who are not usually exposed to it. That really is my mission in life.”

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 700 newspapers and magazines. See www.tinseltowntalks.com.